Thanks for the posting the information. It is exciting to have guest-dancers, but the news does concern me as it would suggest that dancers who should be performing in "Etudes" may be ill or injured. However, with so many ballets being rehearsed and performed this season, it could be a way of keeping dancers fit and fresh for other ballets. In any case, best wishes to any ill or injured dancers for a full, quick and uncomplicated recovery.

If you see either of those performances, or any others, do post! It's nice to hear about the performances that I cannot see, and to have other viewpoints on this thread!!

Greetings! As of the the last update to the RDB website was updated, Ganio was supposed to perform alongside Kenneth Greve, so I would presume he is dancing the role that Jean-Lucien Massot has done previously. However, there are many ways of splitting up the solo male dancing, with two or three dancers, so it's hard to know exactly what sections of the ballet he will do.

Did anyone see the performance on the 13th, when Ganio first danced, and want to comment on how the dancing was distributed amongst thee men (I would presume Blangstrup did just the 'Sylphides' section, but he did more than that in at least one earlier performance).

The Jyllands - Posten has an article and photos of a photo shoot that RDB dancers Mads Blangstrup and Gitte Lindstrøm did at a local pool for use in promoting the upcoming season for younger ballet-goers. Unfortunately these shots are not the most flattering of either dancer!

The full article (in Danish) and most of the full-size photos are available only to subscribers, but you can see several of the photos here.

The introduction essentially says - and please corrent me if I'm wrong - "that 2005 is the 200th anniversary of Bournonville's birth. To celebrate , the Royal Danish Ballet is mounting new productions of the old masters works. In order to show that the ballet is more than just dusty crinolines and pretty steps, the company has engaged photographer Per Morten Abrahamsen for a photo shoot aimed at young people (18-35 ish). The Jyllands Post, along with principal dancers, photographers, coordinators and divers met in Vestbadet to create new pictures for another (or possibly second?) act of 'Napoli'. It was a long and cold afternoon!"

The caption for the second photo seems to indicate that the photos may be for a calendar and that they are ideally being taken 4m below the surface.

I find it hard to believe that an incredibly talented dancer like Yao Wei is a little underused by this company. She is just as good or even better than Sokolowska, and certainly better than Amy Watson, in my eyes. I think it has to do with the traditional policy of this company. Hopefully she'll be doing more soloist roles than the Nutcracker and Octet, which she did last year.

The photo shoot covered in previously mentioned Jyllands-Posten article was for some of the photos in the calender. Based on the small images on the website, the pictures in the calender are of the dancers in various settings - not pictures of the ballets themselves.

Greetings! Yao Wei's been on stage at just about every performance and not just in the corps. She is scheduled to do a solo role in "Far From Denmark" , has been one of the four ladies in the dream scene pas de cinq in "The King's Volunteers on Amager", danced one of Irma's friends in "Abdallah" and has done the opening solo in "Etudes".

Yao Wei is very talented, but there are plenty of great women in the company and only so many roles to go around. Also remember that she's only been in the company about two years and unlike the dancers who have grown up in the company's school, she hasn't had the extra years of Bournonville experience. I'm sure with time she will get many opportunities!

And, keep in mind that casting is never as simple as it seems... The company is performing and rehearsing a large number of ballets, so it may not be feasible for a dancer to be in every ballet or at least have solo roles in every ballet. Also, casting has to take into account compatible partnerships, so a ballerina may not be able to dance if she is too tall or too short for the men in the cast. Finally, you never know when injury or illness are affecting the dancers that are available for casting. Even if a dancer is perfectly healthy when a ballet is performed, they might not be in the ballet, or at least the early performances, if they were ill or injured during the rehearsal period.

But, for those reading this topic...if you could cast Yao Wei in any role(s), what would they be?

Photographer Per Morten Abrahamsen’s interpretations of August Bournonville’s classic ballets sheds new light on the work of the Danish Golden Age artist.

The “Congratulations, Bournonville” calendar for 2005 will be available from 29 October at major bookshops and lifestyle boutiques, including Pede & Stoffer, Casa Shop, Flying A, and Wallace. For a retailer near you, call +45 3369 6980 or order online at www.kgl-teater.dk. Price: DKK 159.

What happens when one of Denmark’s most expressive photographers is asked to provide his personal vision of August Bournonville’s Romantic ballets from the mid-19th century? The results can now be seen in the 12 photographs that illustrate a new calendar published in celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of August Bournonville. The photographs were taken by Per Morten Abrahamsen, who over the past 15 years has distinguished himself with his own particular brand of dark-humoured, expressive photography. His work has been published in art photography books, has graced numerous magazine covers, and has featured at exhibition.

The photographs illustrate 10 of the Danish ballet master’s most popular works. However, classic Golden Age aesthetics have been replaced with modern sensibility. For example, the Neapolitan folklore setting of Napoli becomes a hot summer’s day in August on Bellevue Beach, north of Copenhagen. The love triangle of The Flower Festival in Genzano no longer transpires on the edge of a crater on Lake Nemi, but in a shady courtyard on Islands Brygge, Copenhagen. But not just the locations are different. Per Morten Abrahamsen also wanted to focus on other aspects of the Bournonville narratives. Abrahamsen explains: “Behind all the henpecked husbands and stifling bourgeois respectability lies passionate desire, existential longing, heartbreaking disappointment, and violence – all of which are repressed. These aspects often emerge in the form of a surreptitious glance, a sudden farewell, or an unexpected act. These moments, where deeply sublimated feelings are briefly expressed, are what I have chosen to illustrate in my photographs.”

The calendar is part of a marketing initiative by the Royal Danish Ballet intended to reflect the development the ballet company’s undergoes during the Bournonville bicentennial year. Communications director Kresten Schultz Jørgensen: “The aim of the calendar is to explore Bournonville’s cultural reach. For over 150 years, Bournonville has played an important role in Denmark’s cultural heritage, and we plan to ensure he maintains that importance over the next 150 years. Meeting a goal like this requires continually seeking out new forms of expression.”

"Congratulations, Bournonville!" calendar 2005 For the 2005 Bournonville Calendar the Royal Danish Ballet has asked the photographer Per Morten Abrahamsen to tell a new story about the old master - to let a contemporary visual provocateur reinterpret a latter day avant-gardist of ballet.

Ten of Bournonville’s ballets have undergone photographic scrutiny by Per Morten Abrahamsen resulting in twelve evocative images full of spirit and zest. Timeless images that you can revisit over and over again, just as with Bournonville’s ballets.

The 2005 Bournonville Calendar is available at the price of DKK 159 at the Royal Danish Theatre store, at the box office and as online purchase.

Postage Stamps from Post Danmark The Danish Postal Service, Post Denmark, will celebrate the Bournonville bicentenary in May next year by issuing two commemorative postage stamps. The stamps depict silhouettes of ballet dancers and a portrait of Bournonville.

Dancers of principal parts through the ages How many different dancers have performed the role as James in La Sylphide at the Royal Danish Ballet? And what are their names? When did Rose Gad hold her debut as Eleonora in The Kermesse in Bruges? And when did Margrethe Schanne hold hers? Who has first performed as Gennaro in Napoli? Who was the most recent? And when did Nikolaj Hübbe first appear in that part?

Find the answers in ‘Dancers of principal parts through the ages’ offering a complete historical list of all principal dancers. The lists are featured under each individual festival ballet

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